Government blocks plan to give football fans a stake in their clubs and seats on their boards

The Government said it did not want to legislate on the issue

F.C. United of Manchester is owned and democratically run by its supporters (Getty Images)

The Government says it will block a bid to make football clubs offer their fans a stake in their ownership and seats on their boards of directors.

Labour MP Clive Efford proposed the Football Governance (Supporters’ Participation) Bill which would have reserved up to a quarter of seats on clubs boards for elected fans.

Official fan organisations, which the bill would have recognised in law, would have been offered a 10 per cent stake in the ownership of their clubs.

“When we look around football today, it is clear that football fans are under-represented and not listened to,” Mr Efford said.

“No matter what level of the game we look at, we see examples of where things could be improved if football fans had greater representation.

“Fans are becoming increasingly important because big business is moving into our football clubs in a way that it never has before.”

The MP cited a consultation on the Bill which he said had found 97 per cent of respondents believed fans did not have enough representation in their clubs.

He said 86 per cent of respondents supported a right to buy a stake and 84 per cent wanted representation on their club boards.

Clive Efford (left) proposed the bill

Conservative sports minister David Evennett rejected the plan, however. He said the Government did not want to legislate on the issue that he hoped the FA would voluntarily involve fans in its decision making process after a future governance review.

“Unfortunately, the Government are not able to support the Bill and are opposing it,” he said.

“We do not believe that legislation is the right way forward in dealing with matters like this and to achieve our aim.

“The FA is embarking on a review of its governance, and we hope genuine progress will be made, including on giving supporters greater representation on its decision-making boards.”

Parliamentary time to discuss the Bill ran out before it could be brought to a vote. Mr Efford accused the Government of dragging out previous debates, leading to the Bill not being discussed in detail.

Other countries have legislation to ensure fan participation in their football clubs.

In Germany, football clubs must be majority owned by their supporters by law – a far stricter measure than that proposed in the Bill.

Similar rules apply in Sweden and Argentina, while Spain’s Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, and Real Madrid are all fan-owned.

In England, F.C. United of Manchester was set up as a fan-owned club in protest of the sale of Manchester United to American businessman Malcolm Glazer.

Likewise, AFC Wimbledon was created in 2002 by fans after Wimbledon FC was moved to to Milton Keynes by its owners.